Tata promises improved service, sets up plant

TATA International has promise to give Nigerian improved services in 2016. The company admitted that it had not done enough in terms of growing network across the country. Tata International has been present in Nigeria since 2006 as the distributors of Tata Motors Commercial vehicles. In these nine years, they have sold more than 6,000 vehicles capturing a 15 per cent market share in the segments that they focus on. The company would also build a plant to assemble vehicles in Nigeria.

The Managing Director of Tata International, Mr. Noel Tata stated this at the inauguration of a new showroom the company built in Lagos as part of its desire to consolidate its stake in the Nigerian auto industry. The Tata group, he said was also committed to the new Auto Policy in Nigeria and “we are pleased to announce the start of our project for the assembly of vehicles in Nigeria through our local partner, IPI.

“Since we started operations in Nigeria, I am pleased to share that we have trained over 200 technicians in our training school for our network partners and key customers.”

He said, “Today Tata Motors has the largest portfolio of products amongst all our competitors, starting from the ACE, which is a 500 kg payload last mile delivery vehicle, to the recently launched world truck, the Prima range, which are 40 ton and above payload long haul vehicles. “Over the last two years, we have also consolidated our presence in specialised vehicles for the mass-transit and waste management segments.”

Tata said in 2016, they would add a full range of vehicles to address the Defence and Police segments as well. “At Tata International, we recognise that we have perhaps not done enough in terms of growing our network across the country, as well as meeting the expectation of our customers on the immediate availability of spares.

“Both these issues are going to be our areas of focus for 2016, and we are undertaking several initiatives to quickly improve our performance. I hope that you will all see a marked difference in our network reach in coming months.” Tata said to drive these initiatives, they also have a brand new team of Niraj Srivastava, the new head of our Auto business and Naresh Leekha, the head of their West Africa operations.

“Whilst distributorship of Tata Motors vehicles has been the foundation of our presence across Africa, we are delighted to represent another global brand – the world leader in farm equipment – John Deere. “In this business, our focus has been to offer small holders the opportunity of mechanisation and the ability to multiply their incomes rapidly. Over the last three years, we have sold over 500 tractors to such small farm holders and commercial contractors.”

He said they have also trained over 80 contractors on using the tractors. In addition, our financing offers, in conjunction with John Deere Financial, have also enabled purchases and flexible repayments by our customers.

“We recognise that this is only the beginning of what we can achieve in this large market. We will continue to improve on our services to the Nigerian market and look forward to becoming an integral part of the agricultural and transport revolution that we are certain will take place very soon.

“As the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria will continue to remain a focus market for us. We will make investments in the country, and this showroom is proof of our continued belief in the growth story of Nigeria. “We are also acutely aware of the growing aspirations of our customers in Nigeria. With the support from our OEMs, we will continue to bring our latest products into the market and support them with our network and service infrastructure.”